In support of World AIDS Day, King of Glory International Christian Center is presenting a new hit gospel stage play titled: “The Church Diary: Letting Go of Sacred Secrets and Private Wounds” to raise money to help fight HIV/AIDS.

This theatrical production boldly confronts heavily guarded taboos of the church: Divorce, Mind Control, Same Sex Relationships, HIV/AIDS, Financial Abuse, Suicide, Child Sexual Abuse, Pastor Worship, and more and will be held Saturday, Dec. 1 at Destiny Youth Plaza Auditorium, 7210 N. 76th at 7:00p.m.The Church Diary: Letting Go of Sacred Secrets and Private Wounds gospel stage play closely follows the lives of five members that belong to a spiritually abusive and corrupt mega church.

What audience members will see is that on some levels the church house can be more dangerous than the drug house, cathouse or jail house. In these forbidden settings you know the type of people that you are dealing with when you walk through the door. Whereas, in the church, you often find out people’s motivation after you have exposed your vulnerability to them and a lot of spiritual, emotional, financial and sexual abuse has been done. “The Church Diary: Letting Go of Sacred Secrets and Private Wounds” will encourage audience members to do several things, 1) Dare to take off their masks and come humbly to the cross of Jesus; 2) Take a closer analysis of their spiritual environment; 3) Hold religious leaders to a higher standard of accountability; and 4) Heal from church abuse. Although this production has some comedic moments, nonetheless, it gives a serious picture of the condition of the 21st century church —which is no laughing matter.“I write about real things that people experience in the church. God desires a relationship with real people, not ideal people,” said Jermaine Reed, the play’s executive producer and co-writer.“The Church Diary’s mission is to invite faith-based communities to take an aggressive position in combating the spread of this disease in not only the African-American community, but all communities,” he added.

It’s that wonderful time of the year where friends and family gather to consume large quantities of food, socialize, watch football, kids play, teenagers text and dogs hope the aroma from the kitchen is a hint of a bounty for them.

Many well meaning dog lovers can’t resist the soulful eyes of the family dog begging for food so offer up some goodies. Some dogs are experienced beggars as they have learned tenacity works.

This time of year emergency Vets unfortunately see an increase of animal related medical conditions at the clinic.

General Safety Tips for your Pets 1. Plain turkey in small quantities may be ok for a pet. Most pets do not tolerate spicy seasonings very well or large quantity of food. So giving the dog a sampling of everything on the human menu should be avoided. 2. Food high in fat such as the skin of the bird can cause inflammation in our dogs 3. Make sure to dispose of turkey bones where the pet cannot get to it. These bones will splinter when chewed. Bones can get caught in a pet’s esophagus or intestinal track. Could be life threatening 4.Rancid food is full of bacteria and can make a pet very sick, so make sure garbage is not accessible to the pet 5. Turkey stuffing may contain onions, garlic or raisons all toxic to dogs. Included on the list, bread dough, grapes and chocolate, avocados 6. Remind guests not to offer table scraps or appetizers to the dog 7. Manage children and pets. The excitement of the holiday can get the best of anyone.

by Troy SparksIf you’re looking for some improvement from the Milwaukee Bucks, don’t hold your breath. It’s one thing to have talent on your team, but getting that talent to play together is another thing.One look at how the team is performing through the preseason and you can see why it’s hard to think they will make the playoffs in 2013.Since none of the Bucks’ preseason games are on TV, you had to see firsthand as I did last weekend why some basketball experts think the playoffs aren’t on the horizon.Starting guards Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis don’t want to hear that kind of negative talk. The two recently held a powwow at a location inside the apartment building where they live. Jennings spoke up during a team dinner to declare that he’s the man to lead the deer to the postseason.Based on the offseason acquisitions, draft picks and free-agent signings, it looks like the Bucks can back it up on paper. Add that to the sense of urgency of sending head coach Scott Skiles either riding off in the sunset if they’re winning or packing by midseason if their progress as a team goes south.Skiles is in the last year of his contract. Team owner Herb Kohl will retire as U.S. senator at the end of the year, so he will have lots of spare time to track the return on his investments, all 12-15 of his players, during the upcoming regular season.When the Bucks played the visiting Washington Wizards, Oct. 20, at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, I expected a blowout win by the home team. The lineups and team chemistry is still a work in progress, but based on the results in that game, Jennings and Ellis took most of the shots.When Jennings threw up two off-balance air balls, I was mumbling to myself that he shouldn’t shoot any more the rest of the night. I don’t think making five of 15 shots in 36 minutes will win many games.Maybe he should have passed more to the three frontcourt starters. They had a combined 25 shot attempts, but they also bricked too many of them. If you’re counting on center Samuel Dalembert and forwards Tobias Harris and Ersan Ilyasova to pick up the slack when Jennings and/or Ellis have off shooting nights, then you’re in trouble.And to think that watching the Washington Wizards play good preseason basketball was refreshing. For once, they didn’t play like the Washington Generals. If you don’t know who the Generals are, they are usually the opponent that loses to the Harlem Globetrotters all the time.The Wizards had a 1-4 record entering the exhibition game against the Bucks.You can say that it was only a preseason game, but if Milwaukee shoots 36.7 percent in the first half and 39.5 percent in the game, then there will be plenty of times that fans will exit the building when the opposing team steals a road win. That’s what Washington did in their 102-94 victory.Skiles is challenging his team to put forth more of a defensive effort, especially when they let the Wizards score 54 points in the second half. “Overall, it has been our third game in a row where our defense hasn’t been very good,” he said after the game.With the regular season beginning on the road at Boston, Nov. 2, and the first home game, Nov. 3, at the BMOHBC, the Bucks must get it together or they will be left in the dust. “We still have multiple guys that aren’t real sure what we’re executing out there (on offense),” Skiles said. “It’s stuff that we got to clean up.”And who says that going through the motions in the preseason campaign carries over into the regular season? It will be time for the Bucks to shape up or ship out when the season starts.“We need to tighten things up before the real stuff counts,” forward Mike Dunleavy said. “Hopefully we don’t wait until then. We get some momentum and play well (the final stretch of preseason).”So are you sold on the Bucks making the playoffs or not? With no real superstars on the team that will draw fans to the arena, it could be hard to sell the concept of “Work Hard, Play Hard,” which was their slogan two years ago or the “Be Milwaukee” slogan from last season. I didn’t hear of any new team slogan yet. Maybe it should be, “Oh well, we’ll put anybody out there and see what happens.”The Packers and Brewers didn’t play last Saturday night and the Badgers football team played earlier in the day. I brought this up because the BMOHBC needed just 33 more people to come into the building to make it an even 10,000.When you’re 33 people short of 10K for a practice game, I’m sorry, that doesn’t get it done for the bottom line. Without giving away the answer, subtract 33 from 10,000 and that’s how many people were interested in watching the Milwaukee Bucks because they played the Wizards. If Miami, Boston or the L.A. Lakers were in town, almost the whole arena would have been packed because those teams have all-stars and superstars.Both Jennings and Ellis shot a combined 12 for 33 from the field. If you’re counting on those two to take up the scoring load and try to win the game, then you need to wake up. Maybe Ilyasova may get some shots every once in a while. Dalembert and Harris – if that starting lineup stays the same for a while – might not get many touches on offense.So when it’s a close game in the fourth quarter, who will be the closer? That was one problem the Bucks had in some games last season when the game was down to the last four minutes and they let the other team come back to win. I know anything can happen in the last minutes of the game, but this team has to close out games in order to win. We will see very soon if this squad has what it takes to hit the ground running for 82 games.

Ever since it was announced that “Avatar” star Zoe Saldana (pictured right) had been tapped to play jazz/blues/folk singer and activist Nina Simone (pictured), there has been sizable backlash from the Simone family and around the blogosphere, because Saldana is deemed too light for the role, according to the New York Times.

Last month, the Hollywood Reporter announced that Dominican-Puerto Rican actress Zoe Saldana was chosen to play Simone in a biopic about her life by writer and director Cynthia Mort and executive producer Jimmy Iovine. While the lead role in the jazz icon’s life is a sure win for Saldana, family members and bloggers believe it is a loss for Simone and her legacy.

On Simone’s official Facebook page, Simone’s daughter, Simone Kelly, complained to followers about the decisions movie makers have been making on behalf of her mother, writing:

How many of you know my mother’s FIRST love was classical music? Do you know the hours she practiced preparing to audition for the Curtis Institute of Music only to be rejected because of the color of her skin?

As a child, my mother was told her nose was too big and she was too dark yet she graduated valedictorian of her high school class – The Allen School for Girls – AND, skipped two grades.

Kelly later told the NY Times, “My mother was raised at a time when she was told her nose was too wide, her skin was too dark. Appearance-wise this [Saldana being cast] is not the best choice.”

[After Mary J. Blige didn’t pan out as the lead], folks were left to ponder who’d play Nina; bloggers and fans campaigned for the Black actresses and entertainers they thought would be more of an appropriate fit for the role – including Viola Davis, Lauryn Hill, India Arie and especially Adepero Oduye who starred, to wide acclaim, in “Pariah” – so many were left with feelings of confusion and dismay when Afro-Latina actress, Zoe Saldana was announced as Mary J. Blige’s replacement.

And it’s a very valid gripe. Black actresses – particularly those with darker skin- often lament their experiences having to navigate the politics of an industry, that’s rarely willing to cast them in non-stereotypical roles, because [despite being attractive and immensely talented and right for the role] they don’t have the palatable “mainstream look” the Hollywood machine requires of some of its Black actresses; so they often lose plum roles to, what I call, the Halle Berry/Paula Patton appeal… and that destructive notion often places Black identified but racially ambiguous looking actresses on a pedestal as ideal representations of the Black female aesthetic.

On a unanimous vote, the Milwaukee Common Council recently passed a measure that will require all new elementary schools in the city to provide a minimum amount of safe, open play space to help children stay healthy and active.

“To combat the epidemic of childhood obesity and high rates of diabetes, this legislation is providing an opportunity for all children to take part in physical activity during the school day,” Alderman and primary sponsor Michael J. Murphy said. “Academic research has shown a direct correlation between healthy minds and strong bodies. Now is the time to ensure our children have access to a healthy and active lifestyle.”

The measure requires new public, private and parochial elementary schools to provide at least 75 square feet of outdoor play space for each child using the space at a given time, and to surface the area underneath playground equipment with a soft, energy-absorbing material such as loose sand, pea gravel, mulch or shredded rubber, based on manufacturer’s recommendations.

Concrete or asphalt surfaces under climbing equipment and slides will now be prohibited.

For new elementary schools that do not have the necessary outdoor play space on the premises, the measure allows schools to provide that space somewhere off-site. In order to qualify for that exception, the school must apply in writing and demonstrate a plan for the outdoor play space, including the means of transporting students to the space, that adequate supervision will be available, arrangements to meet children’s toileting needs and that the area is safe and free of any hazards.

“This measure represents a great step forward for children’s health and safety,” Alderman Pérez said. “Once they’ve safely spent some of their youthful energy on the playground, our students can return to their books with clearer heads and better focus.”

The first time live theatre will be performed at the majestic Basilica of St. Josaphat

The play, The March to Kosciuszko, will be performed on Saturday, November 3, 8pm at the Basilica of St. Josaphat, 2333 S. 6th St. (the corner of 6th and Lincoln). The play is sponsored by Urban Anthropology Inc. and is based on oral histories of the old Bronzeville and Polonia communities and the residents’ memories of the Civil Rights Movement in Milwaukee.

During the turbulent year of 1967, two fictionalized families struggle with an appropriate response to the upcoming fair housing march to Milwaukee’s Kosciuszko Park. A southside family wants to hold on to their Polish neighborhood that has recently lost housing as a result of freeway construction, but sees race becoming the operative theme in the opposition. On the north side, a Black family that has also lost housing during freeway construction, questions whether they should risk participation in the potentially violent march. The events are narrated by General Thaddeus Kosciuszko whose monument symbolizes the Polish presence on the south side. As he speaks, the audience learns the historic Kosciuszko-not the one both sides conceptualize.

The play challenges many commonly held ideas about race, culture, and neighborhood. Original newsreels of the march to Kosciuszko Park are included.

At the close of the performance, two guests will lead a discussion of the time of the housing marches. African American historian, Reuben Harpole, will discuss the now extinct community of Bronzeville, and how its razing resulted in a housing shortage for Milwaukee Blacks. The widow of James Groppi, Dr. Margaret Rozga Groppi, will discuss the actual marches.

Tickets can be purchased at $25 at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/271935> or seats can be reserved at urban-anthropology.org/FairHousingPlay.html>Audience discretion is advised, as the play uses ethnic and racial epithets.

Green Bay – Now that the games count, it was time for the Green Bay Packers to play some football. The good news for the Pack was that their first two games of the regular season were at home. Playing the San Francisco 49ers and the Chicago Bears five days apart is what you can call bad news. The Pack will either be 2-0, 1-1 or 0-2 at week’s end.

So which side of the coin would the green and gold come out on? That question was answered, Sept. 9. First up for Green Bay were the 49ers, which made it to the NFC Championship game last season.

The fans at Lambeau Field were ready to go with either a green or a gold T-shirt that were placed on their bleacher seats. The bigger question was, were the Green Bay players ready to play?

After Boyz-2-Men finished singing the national anthem and the four fighter jets flew over the stadium at the end of the song, it was time to find out if the Packers had that mojo to begin their journey to Super Bowl XLVII.

San Francisco sure didn’t feel welcome at Lambeau or by the replacement officials. The NFL used the substitutes for at least the first week of the season while the real officials were locked out by the league over a contract dispute.

Jim Harbaugh, the 49ers’ head coach, threw a fit when Aldon Smith took his helmet off after sacking Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers in the first quarter. That drew an unsportsmanlike conduct call.

Then Harbaugh challenged a pass completion from Rodgers to Jermichael Finley and lost the challenge and one of his team’s three timeouts of the half.

Harbaugh chewed out one of the sideline officials on a previous call and Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy let the other sideline official have an earful when Clay Matthews was called for a late hit on San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith in the second quarter. It was not a good day for replacement officials who worked every scheduled NFL game in Week 1.

“I think there were calls on both sides that were interesting,” Rodgers said. “A couple of plays were either no calls that should have been calls or not the correct call.”

Green Bay got redemption late in the first half when they took 6 minutes 30 seconds off the clock with the help of two defensive penalties on the 49ers’ defense.

The pass interference infraction on the visiting team in the end zone on an attempted reception by Finley gave the Pack the ball one yard from the end zone.

Finley was awarded with a touchdown pass from Rodgers that cut the San Francisco lead to 10-7. Two field goals by San Francisco kicker David Akers late in the half, including a 63-yarder that tied the NFL record, increased the halftime score to 16-7.

“It was kind of one of those miracles,” Akers said. “I didn’t think I hit it great enough. I made (a) 61- (yarder) in pregame and it felt pretty good if I could just get it there and strike it right.” The ball hit the bottom of the crossbar and crawled over the goalpost to end the first half scoring. Momentum kept shifting to San Francisco’s side in the third quarter. Most of the Lambeau crowd was quiet after they scored again to lead 23-7.

That was a wake-up call for the Packers, and they needed to turn the game around in a hurry. The same San Francisco team that came here two years ago and lost bad was ready to come back this time and give the Packers a taste of their own medicine.

The 49ers tried to be conservative by running the ball and running the clock down in the fourth quarter and had to punt on fourth down. Randall Cobb woke up the crowd with his 75-yard punt return for a TD for Green Bay.

The officials were so mixed up that one of them threw a flag. Another official said there was no flag.

Harbaugh’s blood pressure really boiled after that play stood, pending a review because he thought Cobb stepped out of bounds at the 49ers’ 2.

The play was ruled a TD and Harbaugh made a profane comment a afterwards.

Green Bay’s 2-point conversion with 11:16 left in the game brought the San Fran lead down to eight at 23-15.

Rodgers’ interception on the next possession resulted in another TD for the 49ers and a 30-15 deficit. He came back and got a big play from receiver James Jones, who caught a TD pass a couple of plays later. Did Green Bay have enough left in the tank to come back from 30-22 and possibly tie the game and force overtime?

The Packers got the ball back with 3:30 left, no timeouts and 84 yards away from the end zone. They would get no further than the San Francisco 49-yard line as the 49ers held on to win by that same score. To paraphrase Vince Lombardi, “We didn’t lose the game. We ran out of time.”

For the Packers, that wasn’t the way they wanted to start the 2012 season after winning their first 14 games last year. “It’s one game,” Rodgers said. “(San Francisco) is a team that was in the NFC Championship last year. It’s a good team.

Hopefully we see them down the road in the playoffs.”

Chicago, Detroit and Minnesota all won their first game of the season, and that left the Packers at the bottom of the division. All three teams can’t wait to get a piece of the green and gold.

Milwaukee County Parks recently held a ribbon cutting (swing releasing) at the new Lincoln Park Playground 1301 W Hampton Avenue near the Schulz Aquatic Center.

The 8,000 sq. ft. playground has color arching through the poured-in-place rubber play surface.

Play equipment for both 2-5 and 6-12 age groups are located within one area for easier supervision.

This large playground has shade shelter with benches, less decking to promote active play, and lots of spinning!

There are picnic tables within the play surface; grass restoration has been done for free play, and new pathways with ADA ramps to/from the parking lot have been completed.

“Although summer may be winding down there is still plenty of time this year for families to enjoy this wonderful playground,” County Executive Abele said. “Parks are community gathering places and it’s exciting to know this will be around for years to come.”

“I am truly excited to see our new playground at Lincoln Park, but even more excited are my kids and the thousands of children who enjoy playing at Lincoln Park each year.” Supervisor Lipscomb stated.

For more information on Milwaukee County Playground locations please go to countyparks.com and search “Tot Lots” or http://county.milwaukee.gov/ParksandPublicInfras7720/TotLots.htm.

On August 8th the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee, Humana Inc. and KaBOOM!, a national non-profit dedicated to saving play, asked youth from the Westlawn neighborhood to do something that many kids dream of doing: design their dream playground. The youth joined together at the Silver Spring Neighborhood Center to gather ideas for a new one-of-a-kind, multi-generational play space that they and hundreds of volunteers will build to reality on September 29th.

The customized playground will be funded primarily by Humana and will be created with personal drawings and other input collected from the children and adults on the special design day.

Currently, the families of Westlawn do not have a playground to call their own, nor are there any publicly accessible playgrounds in the immediate area. A new playground will effectively address these needs, providing the youth with an age-appropriate area to play, as well as fitness stations and walking paths for seniors and other adults. The project will create a gathering area to inspire family picnics and get-togethers for years to come.

The playground is a key addition to the Housing Authority’s revitalization of the Westlawn neighborhood, and it is thankful that Humana is helping to create a lasting neighborhood legacy that promotes healthy play and well-being. The Housing Authority is seeking to add more new play and community areas to Westlawn to further encourage healthy community development.

On Saturday, September 29th, 200 volunteers from the neighborhood and Humana will join together to build the playground in just six hours. For information on donating supplies or volunteer time to this unique community project, call the Housing Authority at (414) 224-0528.